Following the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) expected declaration of food security emergency this week, Akbayan Partylist Representative Perci Cendaña called on the government to take decisive action against rice cartels for manipulating the distribution of the commodity, driving up its prices. He emphasized that those responsible shall be penalized for profiteering and deserve jail time.

“‘Yung pinaka-basic na pagkaing nasa hapag ng karaniwang Pilipino, hindi na niya ma-afford. Dapat nating wakasan ang profiteering ng mga rice cartels at ng mga hoarders dahil sila lang ang nakikinabang sa mataas na presyo ng bigas. We need to teach these greedy, exploitative businessmen a lesson — kulong kung kulong. Kung hindi natin ilalabas ang pangil natin, we’ll be stuck in a loophole of food security emergencies,” he said.

According to the DA, the price of imported rice per kilo in local markets are: P65 for special rice; P58 for premium rice; P54 for well-milled rice; and P48 for regular milled rice.

Rep. Cendaña also emphasized how supporting local farmers can boost our economy and prevent future food emergencies like this.

“Kung mayroon tayong enough locally produced rice, we would not face a food security emergency. We have to realize that this issue is rooted in our dependency on rice importation. Now, our focus should be to invest in our local farmers and ensure that our government subsidies do not negatively impact them,” he said.

“We are positioned as the second fastest growing economy in Southeast Asia, and we can escalate this further by supporting our local industries, ” the Akbayan Representative added.